Microsoft Azure Germany expands services and boosts compliance

Since launching in September 2016, Microsoft Azure Germany has continued to expand service and assurance capabilities in our first-of-its-kind cloud for Europe. Today we are excited to announce availability of several new services and the achievement of ISO/IEC 27001 certification and ISO/IEC 27018 compliance attestation.

Expanding innovation for customers

In addition to the comprehensive set of services offered already, we are announcing 4 major functionality releases - HDInsight on Linux, Power BI, Cool Blob Storage and Mobile Apps for Azure App Service.

With the combination of Azure services and Power BI in Azure Germany, customers can turn their data processing efforts into analytics and reports that provide real-time insights into their businesses. Power BI has several Azure connections available, and customers can connect as few as one Azure data source, or several, then shape and refine their data to build customized reports.

As customer and application data continues to grow at an exponential pace in the cloud, Microsoft Azure Germany now offers options for managing large volumes of data in a more cost-effective way. Azure Cool Blob Storage provides a low-cost storage option for cool object data such as backups, media content, or archive data.

With the Mobile Apps capabilities of the Azure App Service in Germany, customers can leverage a highly scalable, mobile application development platform that enables them to build native and cross platform mobile experiences with a rich set of enterprise connected capabilities.

Bringing a global standard to our first-of-its-kind cloud for Europe

By following the ISO/IEC 27001 standard, Microsoft Azure Germany demonstrates that its security policies and procedures are robust and can successfully protect organizational information assets in line with internationally recognized standards.

The ISO/IEC 27018 code of practice is based on EU data-protection laws, and provides specific guidance to cloud service providers (CSPs) acting as processors of personally identifiable information (PII) on assessing risks and implementing state-of-the-art controls for protecting PII data.

Moreover, ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO/IEC 27018 emphasize a well-defined, layered approach to security which allows Microsoft to proactively monitor and evaluate its security controls against global security standards, while continuously adapting to local security laws, regulations and best practices in information security.

Microsoft has established a continuous monitoring program that involves a detailed review and validation of information security and privacy-related controls on an ongoing basis. This allows us to identify threats and mitigate vulnerabilities with speed. Additionally, a third-party accredited auditor must validate in their statement of applicability that Microsoft in-scope cloud and commercial technical support services have incorporated controls for the protection of all data including PII on Microsoft Azure Germany. To remain compliant, Microsoft cloud services undergo third-party reviews annually.

Support for customers leveraging IT-Grundschutz framework

In addition to these recent ISO achievements, we remind customers who wish to implement the IT-Grundschutz framework within the scope of their existing or planned ISO/IEC 27001 certification, an “IT Grundschutz Compliance Workbook” is available free of charge – both in English and in German. Released in late 2016, this workbook is based on the standards outlined by the German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), and provides guidance to customers seeking certification for solutions and workloads deployed on Microsoft Azure Germany.

Empowering app-building capability assured by the confidence of compliance depth

While each of these capabilities further empowers customers to achieve more with Azure, it is the combination of the innovative platform capabilities with our commitment to a comprehensive assurance program that makes Microsoft Azure Germany the ideal platform for our partners and customers. You can read more about customers choosing Microsoft Azure Germany at the Microsoft News Centre Europe, and learn more about the products we offer at the Azure Germany product page. Additional information about Microsoft Azure compliance depth and achievements can be found at the Trust Center.